So there I was queuing up at 5.30pm expecting the doors to open like the dozens of other people freezing their rollocks off, but no, that would be too easy, instead the doors opened at 6.05pm and that was only to allow us into the refreshment area. Refreshments that through forward planning I had already purchased beforehand to save going back and too once I was in the gig, but yet again that would be too straightforward, instead they were confiscated upon entering, two bottles of water ceremoniously ditched into a clear plastic bag along with other dangerous substances like coke and fanta.

Wait a minute is this supposed to a Manchester v CANCER event, should they not have instead been confiscating the hundreds of cancer causing cigarettes on entering. The very cigarettes that I had to breathe in from people around me during the whole 5 hours of the concert. Hypocritical in the extreme.

So the doors did finally open to allow us into the arena at 6.45pm. Bez starting off with his Domino Bones, with Shaun Ryder mocking the crowd at the side, followed by Utah Saints. It was then 808s turn to impress.

The gig was being filmed by every camera under the sun, a really professional approach, from swing cameras on beams jetting across the audience heads to two cameras in front of the stage crisscrossing on rails. An obvious future DVD release.

So there was no room for errors, no double takes, it required a highly polished performance to have any chance of being added onto the disc, and that’s what we got.

In fact too highly polished, gone was the drummer, Paddy being the only extra addition. The opener Pacific having Graham on his clarinet sounding that good he must play bagpipes in his spare time. In fact that good he almost had us believing he was miming.

Darren then introduced Nicky on stage for The Only Rhyme that Bites with the backwall display showing his every move while final track Cubik had everyone doing the mental rounds.

The arena was still only half full at this time, and even towards the end a lot of upper tiers had clearly not sold.

The graphics behind 808 were the only mishap in their performance as it showed the Pacific video when they were playing Cubik, no doubt the aztec statue montage should have accompanied Cubik instead of Pacific.

And that was that, no fancy light displays, no lasers, just a well polished warm up routine for the other acts to follow, and indeed they did follow with Nine Black Alps finally making use of the pyrotechnics available with the first of the extended performances.

Johnny Marr was my personal fave, and New Order took us back in time with an entire Joy Division set. It was then that most of the artists came on stage dragging along Shaun Ryder in boyz of the hood mode to sing us out with a Mondays routine.

808 are clearly not a 3 track band. Give them the time, the pyrotechnics and a defined crowd they are unrivalled. Tonight wasn’t about upstaging other acts, they all gave their time and support for a common cause and that was the highlight of the night.

Nicely summed up. As for the doors opening part, we waited till 7pm in a nearby pub so we had no problems there. I was surprised how good Damon Gough was, I always liked a few of his tracks, but ihe sounded really good acoustically. Elbow were also really tight I thought. Big moment of the whole event was definitley Jonny Marr - How Soon Is Now. It was one of those rare tingle up the spine, everyone singing moments. How weird was Mani DJing? He seemed to keep losing his records :p I kinda hoped he would play too. Almost impossible to get served a beer in there, unless you wanted to miss a whole act while queuing up, but apart from that, a good night all in all.

I hadn't heard of Nine Black Alps till a few days before the gig. They weren't anything special in my opinion though, seen better bands in local pubs. Be interesting to see some piccies. I was gonna take some with my phone,but they dont turn out too well usually. Judging by all the cameras etc there will definitely be a DVD at some point in the future.

"They were actually pretty good, although the venue was only about half-full at this stage. Utah Saints got things going with a lively DJ set before the Arena really ignited as 808 State took to the stage and played Pacific State, the night's first classic moment."

Also a nice summary by them:
Pacific State, There Is A Light That Never Goes Out, Love Will Tear Us Apart, Wrote For Luck. Anyone who enjoys the music of our fair city couldn't fail to enjoy Manchester v Cancer, least of all because the money went to Christie's. Hopefully Rourke and Co will be able to make it an annual event, although they'll struggle to top this...

If anyone has decent photos, send me the best ones. Preferably 72 dpi and about 750 pixes max width. I'll then put them up in the forum to make it happen as quick as possible. In a similar fashion as to what I did with my Eindhoven report.